“Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see Him as He is.” (1 John 3:2)

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

The goal is not to know ourselves better, but to know Him better. Because as we know Him better, and see Him more clearly, we will begin to see who we truly are as well. And in the same way, delving and spelunking in the inner recesses of our psyches will not help us — instead we need to perceive and receive the Mind of Christ.

Like this:

“Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much…” (Luke 16:10)

“I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?” (John 3:12)

It seems the Lord was showing me that these verses can refer to how we manage and steward and understand TIME. He gives us TIME in this temporal world and watches to see how we will use it. And if we do well (according to His idea of “well”), then He is ready to entrust us with heavenly, eternal things!

Sometimes, when we experience God’s tangible Presence, Eternity invades our temporal reality and TIME seems to disappear, as it is overwhelmed and displaced by His eternal, infinite Glory. And as we experience Him like this, everything in our lives begins to be transformed. But if we want to experience this infusion, we need to approach and esteem temporal TIME rightly — by spending a lot of it on Him, being willing to lavish Him with one of the few types of CURRENCY that really impresses Him — our TIME.

A grandfather typically is interested in enjoying and spoiling his grandkids. He leaves painful things such as confrontation and discipline to the children’s father. And if we are honest with ourselves, we will admit that we tend to want God to be more of a grandfather than a father.

As C. S. Lewis said: What would really satisfy us would be a God who said of anything we happened to like, “What does it matter so long as they are contented?” We want, in fact, not so much a Father in Heaven as a Grandfather in Heaven — a senile benevolence who, as they say, “liked to see young people enjoying themselves” and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be truly said at the end of each day, “a good time was had by all”.

It has been said that this present generation is a fatherless generation and suffers greatly from a lack of fathers. And that is very true — tragically true. Many men have abandoned their wives and children and fled from their responsibilities as fathers.

But there is another, less-talked about reason that the father/child relationship in our culture is so dysfunctional. And that reason is that many of us do not really want to be fathered — we want to be grandfathered — and because of this, many have chosen to reject a true, biblical, father/child relationship. And until we embrace ALL the fatherly aspects of God, we will be greatly handicapped — in the spiritual realm as well as in the natural — and suffer from all types of confusion and dissipation that can only be corrected by a firm, loving, wise Father.

“My son, do not despise the LORD’s discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.” (Proverbs 3:11-12)

“If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” (Hebrews 12:8,11)

Like this:

It will never be easier for you to take risks for God and his Kingdom than RIGHT NOW.

This is ESPECIALLY true for single 20-somethings. You may think that later, somehow, things in your life will be more conducive to serving and adventuring with God. But the longer you live, the more likely it is that you will invest your heart in the things of this world. And as you do this, you will feel like you have more and more to lose by running after Jesus. It will seem like you have fewer and fewer options.

You will NEVER have fewer hindrances (in the natural) to adventuring with the Holy Spirit than RIGHT NOW!!!

SO GO FOR IT! When you look back from Eternity, you will be INFINITELY more happy with this choice!

“The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful.” (Matthew 13:22-23)

Among other things, the Church is a HOSPITAL — a place of healing. But it’s not a civilian hospital — it’s a MILITARY HOSPITAL.Part of us would like to think that God wants to heal us so we can go hang out at the mall and just “be happy.” But His plan is to heal us so that we can be better, more effective soldiers — soldiers in an ongoing spiritual WAR OF LIBERATION. And only by entering into this war — as dutiful, loving soldiers of the Cross — will we find TRUE HAPPINESS.

“Until the time that his word came to pass, the word of the LORD tested him.”(Psalm 105:19)

Often, when God speaks a powerful word of destiny over our lives, it will seem that the exact opposite is happening, and that instead of smooth sailing, we run into storms. The above verse is about Joseph. He had a powerful prophetic DREAM about being put into a place of great authority — and then for years, it seemed that the exact opposite was happening. This was part of God’s plan. The trials he went through were actually meant to PREPARE and MATURE him, so that when the word came to pass, and Joseph was lifted up to a place of great authority, he would have the maturity and humility to move in that authority effectively. The same pattern happened in David’s life.

So my dear friends — do not be discouraged if the DREAM God has given you seems far from realization today. Continue to hope and wait upon the Lord. IN HIS TIME, HE MAKES ALL THINGS GLORIOUS!!!

“And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, that you do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience INHERIT THE PROMISES.” (Hebrews 6:11-12)

And the good and effective thing about how Joseph believed and trusted is that even while in prison, he did not give up hope, but rather chose to minister in his gifting where he was, and in God’s perfect timing, he was lifted up and vindicated.